Hair to find out...

In a previous post, I talked about the wonderful world of hair removal here in Egypt. So much time and energy is spent on removing unwanted hair. Egyptian women are nothing short of high maintenance. But since then, I've encountered another hairy situation here: loss of wanted hair.

I've noticed that amongst all the shampoos and conditioners sold in pharmacies, there is always a type to treat or prevent hair fall. I didn't really understand why. Are that many women losing their hair? Isn't that a problem for men? Is it one for women here too?

I'm now in my 4th month of living here, and I'm now understanding what this is about. I've had some friends complain about their hair-thinning issues, blaming the water quality. One friend actually uses bottled water to wash her hair, that's how seriously she's (paranoid) reacted to it. I love my friend, but I do think it's ridiculous to wash with bottled hair. Talk about wasteful and not eco friendly.

Over time I started noticing that when I washed my hair, I was losing handfuls. More than usual. I naturally have very thick and curly hair, but lately, my hair started feeling thinner. I now need to wrap my hair tie around my ponytail 3 times, instead of the usual 2. So I started freaking out about this. Someone suggested it was stress. "Stress!?" I exclaimed, "I'm on a long term vacation!"

Trying hard not to be a hypochondriac, or over-react, I have to take a few things into consideration. My hair is the longest it has ever been, and maybe I'm not familiar with the kind of maintenance it requires. My curls get so tangled, sometimes the only way to undo the tangles is by breaking them. Not to mention that I live in the desert, (though my body was designed for this environment, and every day here is otherwise just one great hair and skin day after another-- no humidity = no frizz!!) and being in such a dry climate, I've been oiling my hair at least once a week to nourish it. I usually go as far as hunting down great hair oils and treatments all over Islamic Cairo. Between the spice shops and the oil & fragrance shops, I have a whole collection of treatments. I'm taking vitamins, and doing anything to try to help my mane, one of my most beautiful assets. I got a hair cut, hoping to revive the ends (much to my dismay, as I'm on a mission to grow my hair longer). And well, I'm close to running out of ideas short of washing with bottled water, too.

My cousin confirmed the water theory, citing that once her family got a special water filter, it helped. An article found by google search confirmed the same. A water study found that the water here is so hard, the high levels of calcium causes hair to dry out and break, and worse, the hard water leaves a layer of film on the scalp (much like on shower doors as we are shown in those CLR commercials), preventing new hair growth.

So armed with this information, I'm trying to formulate a plan that still doesn't go as far as shampooing with bottled water or installing a water filter... yet. My plan right now is just to have my hair straightened once a week at the coiffure. That should help reduce the tangles (straight hair doesn't tangle the way curls do), and the number of times I wash my hair (a blow out can last about 5 days). And yes, I go to get my hair done. It's perfectly normal, that's what we do here. We're high maintenance and lazy.

Problem is, I'm such a control freak and I'm so particular about how I like things done that it actually gives me anxiety to let someone do my hair. Complaining and telling someone how to do something better, only confirms how Egyptian I am. However, if I found a salon with filtered water, I probably would never wash my hair myself again!